Night lay like a thin gray veil over the Inn-Clinic at the end of Tanzaku Town.
A draft stretched the oil lamp's flame sideways, casting wavering shadows across the mottled wooden walls.
When Sasuke sat up on the operating table, his face was pale and cold sweat plastered his black hair to his temples. Yet he did not utter a single groan. He simply straightened his clothes, jumped down, and pushed through the door into the night without looking back.
The faint sound of the door closing still lingered in the air when the blonde beauty plopped into the seat opposite Jiraiya.
Tsunade rolled up her sweat-stained sleeves, exposing her pale forearms, and tapped the tabletop with her fingertips.
Jiraiya's gaze swept over her face. He took a brown paper envelope he had prepared in advance from inside his clothes, its opening neatly sealed with wax, and slid it across the table.
"Here. For the drinks and the treatment."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow, a flicker of surprise crossing her green eyes.
She knew Jiraiya all too well. When had the old rascal ever paid up without first grinning and fooling around until she punched him into the floor?
His readiness today left the fist she had prepared with nothing to do.
"You're actually paying?"
Tsunade weighed the envelope in her hand. It was thick and fairly heavy.
"One thing has nothing to do with the other."
Jiraiya folded his arms, unusually serious.
If he or Naruto had needed treatment, he would have sidled up with his usual glib tongue, first praising Tsunade's miraculous medical skills and unrivaled beauty, then pretending to haggle over the price. He would tease her until she was both angry and embarrassed, and even enjoy the punch he received in the end.
But Sasuke was different